Polystyrene (PS) microspheres were synthesized by emulsifier-free emulsion polymerization and then they were arranged as a close packed opal photonic crystals by a slow self-assembly dip-coating. The PS periodic microarray was applied as a rapid qualitative recognizable chip of methanol and ethanol in this study. Once we drop a dosage of methanol and ethanol into the PS opal chip respectively, we could distinguish both of them rapidly from the routes of the reflection positions of the chip in the chromaticity diagram. In addition, we made a quantitative identification chip for the concentration of ethanol in this study. A titania inverse opal structure was prepared by pouring titania gel into the voids of the PS microspheres array then sintering the PS/TiO2 template at high temperature. The sensitivity of the sintered TiO2 inverse opal structure for the concentration of ethanol was evaluated and investigated.